Date: 2020-08-02

I knew His Excellency, Mr. Kayode Alabi, Deputy Governor of Kwara State closely only two years ago. Of course, I had heard much about him in Abuja as a notable Kwaran.

My encounter with him in 2018 during the meeting of the Kwara Southern Stakeholders hosted by our leader, Chief James Ayeni, at his residence in Ilorin, was an eye-opener.

After the meeting, I accosted Mr. Alabi and wanted to know if it was true he was running for Senate and why. He confirmed his Senatorial interest and expressed seriousness about pursuing it.

It was in the course of that interaction that I knew that he is actually my cousin in Ijomu Oro, my home town. He has been to Ijomu Oro severally ( at least twice last year) and he is well-loved in the community.

Since that 2018 encounter at Chief Ayeni's house, we have gotten on so well. He is a pleasant personality. Like his boss, the Governor, Mr. Alabi is humility personified. But the deputy governor is more boisterous and, like some of us he joined for public service in Kwara, a true "Lagos Boy. "

Mr. Alabi owes his remarkable visibility in government to his Principal who has entrusted him with significant responsibilities, including ( but not limited to), notably, the Covic 19 Project.

Mr. Alabi honoured me with his unscheduled presence in my residence in Ilorin on my birthday last year where he played the co-host- cutting cake with me and interacting easily with other guests.

When you visit the deputy governor, he displays a good host's dexterity; when he visits you, he still wants to play a good host. He is Goodman.

Happy Birthday, Sir.